ruudkeulers
Service Attendant
Before I made my first trip on Amtrak, I stumbled on this site and found out a lot of useful information.This forum was started for neither of those purposes. This forum's primary purpose is to give first time riders, as well as those who have taken Amtrak but not fully explored its many routes, to come and ask questions and learn about things. The fact that many railfans hang out here is both welcome and useful towards that primary purpose, educating people about all things Amtrak.
The 2 main things I picked up was that time keeping was a bit lax and the food wasn't all that great.
So would I be daft enough to book a flight back to London the same afternoon I arrive on the CZ? Not really. Sometime trains run late, even Australian ones, shock horror. (a friend of mine did the Ghan a few months ago, and a derailment meant buses and lots of delay....) Yes, it would be great if Amtrak ran to Swiss levels of perfection, but it doesn't and while it shares with freight railroads it never ever will, and that's just life. Don't like it? Tough.
The food is poor to average, could it be better? Yes. Was it better than I expected? Just about.
Lots of things could be better, but you have the choice of using Amtrak or not. Moaning on here won't help much, you just have to accept it for what it is. Despite all the bad points, you have to look at the whole, and I have enjoyed all the Amtrak trips I have made, talked to some interesting people and met some great Amtrak staff who do a great job under the circumstances.
And thanks to lots of topics going way, way off topic I learned a lot more about Amtrak and especially its travelers than just the delays and the quality of meals onboard. So somehow it feels I'm pretty well prepared for my first acquaintance with all these imperfections in a little over a month's time. Besides: I don't believe delays and meals can get any worse than on the average low-cost carrier. It's the trip that counts.
For the rest: Neil & Alan said it all!
Ruud